It's called taco rice (タコライス takoraisu).
As weird as that might sound, it truly rocks! But if you ever visited Japan's distant island of Okinawa, especially in the armed forces, or spent more than a week anywhere in Japan, you're probably familiar with it and don't see it as weird at all.
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| The One-Minute Lunch |
For such a tiny, remote island Okinawa offers some remarkably unusual, yet delicious food.
Approachable
That's the word I'm looking for. Alot of "unusual" food around the world, good or bad, can be very unfriendly to the less-adventurous diner. Okinawan food, maybe for it's simplicity, doesn't look all that different from Chinese. If the spartan marines are eating it, it can't be all that esoteric. But the MC of Okinawan food is the humble taco rice.
Legend has it that it was first whipped up in the '60's by a local chef trying to please the palates of US servicemen by making tacos, but substituting local rice for the tortilla shells - the only component which was difficult to obtain out there (if you think about it, everything else is pretty basic).
It's essentially taco-seasoned ground beef, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, and whatever else served on a bed of steamed rice. It's as good as it sounds, and a notably healthy alternative.
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- Brown the ground beef, drain the fat, return it to the skillet, and cook for a few more minutes with water and taco seasoning
(chili pepper, onion, garlic, pepper, cayenne, and maybe cumin and paprika).
You can do your own seasonings, or just use a package of taco seasoning like I do.
- Serve the beef over steamed rice.
- Here, I like the traditional Japanese "sushi rice" (uruchimai). Maybe that's just because it's what I'm accustomed to but I think the starchy, stickiness of this rice works best with the spicy beef and cheese; supporting it without overpowering it. Sometimes I mix in a little brown rice for substance and healthiness. But just about any rice will do, I guess.
- Here, I like shred the cheese directly on the hot taco meat (oh, grow up!) so it will melt better. Now we're almost talking NACHO rice, which mine usually ends up resembling if I have enough cheese...so much for the health benefits.
- Chop up some lettuce or cabbage, tomatoes (cherry tomatoes, if you have them on hand)...add some guacamole, onions, olives...whatever turns you on.
- Taco sauce or salsa on top. If you're in Japan, the best salsa by far is the Daniel's Fire Roasted line imported from the US. If you're in the States, you may know of better brands, but I doubt it. Daniel's Fire Roasted Salsas are so good, I've stopped making my own. The black bean and corn is my family's favorite. I used to get them at Sony Plaza when I was lucky enough to find them in stock until I found them online. Now I order them by the case and go through about a jar a week.
You can order them from Rakuten through this link (complete links at the bottom): - After That? Serve with beer and a kick-ass action movie. Might I suggest From Paris with Love?
- OR if sounds like too much work, heat up a package of ready-made taco rice meat.
You can even speed up the process further by smashing a couple of plain onigiri/rice balls on a plate, adding the ready-made beef, and microwaving it (remove beef from foil bag first, genius).
Either way, I'd like to hype Daniel's a little more. It's a small company, so I want to make sure they get all the business they deserve lest they stop selling in Japan and I lose my favorite condiment.
Try them all; they're all great.
